sensorineural hearing loss
Hearing impairment caused by damage to the inner ear or auditory nerve pathways.
QuickSIN
A standardised clinical test (Quick Speech-in-Noise) that measures a listener's signal-to-noise ratio loss using sentenc...
real ear measurement
Objective verification technique measuring hearing aid output in the patient's ear canal during fitting.
recruitment
Abnormal rapid growth of loudness perception in damaged inner ears, where soft sounds are inaudible but loud sounds seem...
residual hearing
The degree of functional hearing sensitivity remaining in an ear affected by hearing loss, used to guide decisions about...
retrocochlear
Referring to auditory pathway disorders located beyond the cochlea, including the auditory nerve and brainstem structure...
RIC
A hearing aid style in which the receiver (speaker) is housed in the ear canal rather than in the behind-the-ear casing,...
sensorineural hearing loss
Hearing impairment caused by damage to the inner ear or auditory nerve pathways.
signal-to-noise ratio
The decibel difference between the level of a target signal (typically speech) and the level of background noise, used t...
SNR
Abbreviation for signal-to-noise ratio, widely used in audiology reports, hearing aid documentation, and acoustic standa...
soundfield testing
Audiometric assessment conducted through loudspeakers in a calibrated test environment rather than via earphones, used t...
speech banana
An informal term for the banana-shaped region on an audiogram that represents the frequency and intensity range of typic...
speech perception in noise
A category of audiological testing that measures a patient's ability to understand speech when competing background nois...
speech reception threshold
Softest level at which a person can understand 50% of two-syllable words, measuring functional hearing for speech.
stapedectomy
Surgical procedure replacing the fixed stapes bone with a prosthetic device to restore hearing in otosclerosis.
Telecoil
An inductive coil within a hearing aid or cochlear implant processor that picks up electromagnetic signals from compatib...
threshold shift
Change in hearing sensitivity from baseline measurements, indicating hearing loss progression or recovery.
tinnitus
Perception of sound (ringing, buzzing, hissing) in the absence of external acoustic stimulation.
Tympanic Membrane
The thin, cone-shaped membrane separating the outer ear canal from the middle ear, commonly referred to as the eardrum.
Tympanogram
The graphical record produced by tympanometry, plotting middle ear admittance against ear canal air pressure to indicate...
tympanometry
Objective test measuring eardrum mobility and middle ear pressure to assess middle ear function.
Unaided Thresholds
A patient's hearing sensitivity levels measured without any amplification device in place, serving as the baseline again...
uncomfortable loudness level
The intensity level at which a listener reports sound as uncomfortably loud, used to establish the upper boundary of the...
VEMP
An objective electrophysiological test measuring the myogenic response of the sternocleidomastoid muscle (cVEMP) or extr...
vestibular assessment
A suite of clinical tests evaluating the function of the inner ear's balance organs and their central pathways, used to...